Jason and the mighty 9-point

Jason Bosch of Sterling Heights took this nine-point Nov. 16 weeks after having received a kidney transplant from his mother Betty.

MAHFS photo by Mac Arnold

By Mac Arnold
MAHFS Editor

After
years of being a lone wolf on the opening day of deer firearms season, I
got an opportunity to be part of a camp and had a ball.

It also has its benefits, which I'll get to later.

We dropped six deer in two days.

For
sure the best deer of the weekend is a story that was definitely
spectacular. Something that has been missing lately on this blog ...

Uh, moving along.

Jason
Bosch, the son of our group's fearless leader and property owner,
George Bosch of Clinton Township, connected on a 200-something pounder
nine-point and a real nice doe on the second evening of the season.

That in itself, would be a pretty good story, but wait it gets better.

See, Jason, 32, received a kidney transplant Sept. 26 from his mother Betty and is only now getting his strength back. His kidneys failed gradually over the years because of a birth defect.

When the action went down as dusk slowly approached
at the Sanilac County, Mich., farm, Jason was able to peek through a
small window of branches from his blind at the buck moving 100 yards
out. On the first shot, his 12-gauge kicked up and bucked into his chin,
so he knew he missed but was confident the second shot was true yet the
brute acted strangely like a deer not hit.

Then the
doe made its appearance. Already slightly perturbed at missing the buck,
Jason was even more determined for the next go around.

"I said, 'I'm not gonna miss two freaking deer in one night,' " he recalled.

And sure enough, down she went.

After
getting out of the stand and having some assistance from another hunter
Paul, they both confirmed there was no blood or hair and began to deal
with the doe.

Later, George was surprised at the
headquarters -- the trailer in the center of camp -- that his son, a
reputed awesome shot, hadn't brought down the monster.

"This kid just doesn't miss, I can't believe it," he said.

But hold on a minute, the story doesn't end here.

On Saturday, Nov. 17, we got into our positions around the farm and hoped for more action on the third day.

The
day proved to be quite slower than the previous two with maybe the echo
of 10 shots from the surrounding farms and none from ours.

I was planning to get down around 10:30 a.m. when at 9:52 I received a text from George, saying, "Got it."

I'm
thinking at this point, "it"? Really? (There is a absolute wall-hanger running around the property that everyone is hoping to tag
and make history.)

I wasn't even sure I had heard a shot.

So I responded I would check him out after I got down out of the blind at 10:30.

As
it turns out, when George went to leave he turned around to climb down
and caught a glimpse of a deer's white belly. When he walked over, lo
and behold, it was Jason's buck from night before.

He had hit him a little back in the liver.

So
it was good they didn't really investigate the scene hard on
the night of the shot because he might have gotten up and headed over
to the neighboring farm and possibly beyond.

Liver shots require a little more time of waiting before a deer will expire.

There
was evidence the deer had moved from the open field and tried to hide
better in the bordering woods, probably when the two hunters had
initially looked for blood and hair. The buck had likely heard their
impending footsteps.

The benefit of other than being
included in this great event on what is one of most time-honored
traditions here in Michigan was both Jason and George looked at me and
asked, "You want him?" Minus the horns obviously, and knowing the lame
season I was having at this point.

I was stunned and wondering if they were half serious or what.

"We just want to be helpful," they told me.

George had taken a buck as well the previous night to go with Jason's doe, and they were loaded to the gills with venison.

So the moral of the story for this grizzled whitetail stalker is sometimes it pays to be a self-taught deer processor.

Which
is a skill that comes from only one thing: having experience from
cutting up a few of my own deer. So even though this year hasn't been
the greatest in the hardwoods for me, I took advantage of other know-how I learned in the hunting game.

With November being the month for gratitude, that's what I am, grateful a bountiful supply of succulent venison.

But surely Jason is grateful for much more this Thanksgiving season -- the gift of life with a donated kidney from his mother Betty and more time with wife Jennifer and their two-year-old daughter Farrah Grace.

About Me

AKA Mac Ugly, Gobbler Man, Mac Attack. Raised in Birmingham, Mich., until 19. Left in 1983 and did a short tour in the active Army. After an honorable discharge in 1985, I attended and graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1990. After working at three daily newspapers in West Virginia and New York from 1990 to 1997, I hit the skids with a failed first marriage. I have two children from that marriage. It was in the midst of that relationship when I found hunting as a panacea. Basically, it saved my ass. See, I've been sober through a 12-step program since 1987. The passion for the outdoors has continued into this millennium with three more children from a second marriage. I hope to pass the love of the woods on to my kids. I am now remarried to my beautiful wife Stacie Arnold and employed by The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. Before this, I was employed by The Macomb Daily in Mount Clemens, Mich., for 16 years. One other noteworthy experience was serving in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti while an Army Reservist in 1995. Served in the Reserve from 1985-1997. All of this has made me older and wiser to handle future successes.